In the good old summertime, when most city folk migrate to the shore
and the countryside in search of cooler climes, artists and craftspeople
hit the road, too. They're off to Ukrainian folk festivals, concert and
opera series like those in Newport, R.I., and the Hamptons on Long Island,
and Catskill resorts like Soyuzivka and Hunter, N.Y., where weekend cultural
programs reign supreme.

Spending a few days in the northern Catskills recently, I visited the
picturesque Hutsul-styled Grazhda concert hall on Route 23A in Jewett Center,
N.Y., and found a Ukrainian artist in performance on a Saturday evening.
Lyric coloratura soprano Oleksandra Hrabova, with Kyiv Conservatory graduate
Maryna Rohozhyna at the piano, delighted the capacity audience with her
scintillating voice, offering arias by Puccini, Gounod, Bellini and Donizetti,
songs by Ukrainian composers Mykola Lysenko and Ihor Sonevytsky, and lilting
Ukrainian folk songs. As an encore she sang Gershwin's touching "Summertime,"
her Ukrainian accent adding an especially endearing quality to the lullaby.

A native of Lviv who has been winning plaudits and prizes in this country
for the past three years, Ms. Hrabova clearly enjoys singing and pleasing
her listeners. Though petite in stature, she owns a strong voice that enables
her to reach high notes effortlessly; she is equally adept as an actress,
able to convey coquettish or sad feelings with her facial expressions and
dark, soulful eyes.

This marvelous young singer is well on the way to becoming a successful
performer on the American musical scene. Since coming to the U.S. after
touring in Ukraine, Europe and Canada, she has won the 1997 National Opera
Association Competition in Washington, (second prize) and Di Capo Opera
Vocal Competition in New York (third prize). A winner of this year's Liederkranz
Foundation Award and the 1998 Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional
Auditions (third prize), she is looking forward to portraying Violetta in
the Di Capo Opera's 1999 production of Verdi's "La Traviata."

Appearing on the evening's bill as a replacement for ailing baritone
Yaroslav Hnatiuk, formerly of the Lviv Opera, also was violinist Oleksander
Abayev, who interpreted Ravel's tempestuous "Gypsy Rhapsody" with
intensity and verve.

The concert was but one in the classical music series sponsored by the
Music and Art Center of Greene County, whose president and music director
is Dr. Ihor Sonevytsky of New York. The season opened with an anniversary
concert for the prominent contemporary Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skotyk.
Other concerts this year presented such outstanding artists as cellists
Natalia Khoma and Nestor Cybriwsky, pianists Volodymyr Vynnytsky and Thomas
Hrynkiw, violinist Anton Miller, soprano Luba Shchibchik, baritone Oleh
Chmyr and the Leontovych String Quartet, which consists of Yuri Mazurkevych,
Yuri Kharenko, Borys Deviatov and Volodymyr Panteleiev.

In addition to the musical felicities that have prompted area residents
to dub this center "Little Tanglewood," the Grazhda hall offered
a richly varied treat for the eyes and temptation for art collectors - over
100 works of Ukrainian artists, were arranged on the pale-blond log walls
and in the adjoining hallway of the architecturally impressive building.

Included in the annual exhibit were, among others, oils by Ivan Trusz,
Mychajlo Moroz, Luboslav Hutsaliuk, Mykola Nedilko, Myron Lewytsky, Ludmyla
Morozova, Bohdan Domanyk, Yaroslaw Wyznyckyj and Bohdan Tytla; watercolors
and acrylics by Edward, George and Jerome Kozak; icons by Halyna Tytla,
George Kozak and Bohdan Bozhemsky; as well as as tempera paintings by Sophia
Lada and Taras Shumylowych.

Art works were also on display a few miles down the road at the Xenia
Motel, now operated by Oksana and Oleh Cziselsky, formerly of Lviv, as well
as at the home of Mr. Wyznyckyj, a former Brooklynite.

At the time of my visit, several workshops were being held as part of
the music center's summer program. Anna Baczynsky of New York patiently
coaxed and guided a group of youngsters through a folk singing class at
the Grazhda, while pysanka and ceramics expert Sofia Zielyk, also from New
York, instructed students in the intricacies of decorating Ukrainian Easter
eggs and ceramics at the mountain-chalet summer home of her parents, Lubomyr
and Larysa Zielyk. Mrs. Zielyk, an authority on Ukrainian embroidery and
gerdany (bead-strung necklaces), was scheduled to conduct classes in her
specialties the following week.

The Grazhda is part of a spiritual and cultural center for Ukrainians
that includes St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, designed by
architect Ivan Zhukovsky; a bell tower; and the parish hall (known as the
grazhda) and parsonage, designed by architect Ivan Zajac. All are located
on a pine-covered hilltop site between the Hunter ski area and Lexington,
N.Y. The structures were built by master builder Jurij Kostiv in the timber
block-work style that is traditional in Ukraine's Carpathian Mountains.
Iconographer Petro Cholodny Jr. and sculptor/wood carver Mychailo Czereszniowskyj
executed the decoration of the church interior.

A popular stop for tourists and summer vacationers, the complex is situated
in an area that has attracted a number of year-round Ukrainian residents,
among others Mr. and Mrs. Wyznyckyj, Clementine Szewczuk, who runs Karpatia
House in Lexington, and painter/sculptor Natalia Pohrebinska, who lives
in Lexington and commutes to nearby Saugerties, N.Y., where she operates
an art and antiques shop, the Stone House Gallery.

A comedy for Dzundza

George Dzundza has changed his occupation so often in the past 25 years
that he could be called a chameleon. In reality, he's a versatile actor
who has appeared on movie and TV screens as a police sergeant, bar owner,
detective, bank robber, Russian KGB officer, American Nazi leader, proprietor
of a 24-hour grocery store and a host of other characters.

He's been cast for the most part in tough guy and villain roles, but
beginning on September 24, you'll find him doing comedy on NBC Thursday
nights from 8:30 to 9. He is featured in "Jesse," a new romantic
family comedy starring Christina Applegate ("Married ... With Children").
As Jesse's father, John Warner Sr., he will portray a gruff, plainspoken
soul who owns Der Biergarten, the German-theme restaurant/bar where Jesse
works as a waitress.

The sitcom revolves around Jesse, an attractive single mother whose life
is a juggling act involving her job, her dreams and responsibilities to
the men in her life - her father, two brothers (John Lehr of "Friends
and David DeLuise of "Third Rock from the Sun") and 10-year-old
son (Eric Lloyd). The production is the creation of Bright/Kaufman/Crane,
producers of "Friends," in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Mr. Dzundza sees his newest character as an Archie Bunker type. "He's
a likable, somewhat clumsy and politically incorrect kind of a guy who's
always putting his foot in his mouth," he says. "He's just a regular
working Joe."

It's a role the actor will be able to interpret from first-hand experience,
since he worked as a bartender and waiter in the 1970s while studying with
renowned drama instructor Stella Adler in New York for six years. Part of
that job experience included bartending at the Ukrainian National Home on
Second Avenue and waiting on tables at the Orchidia Restaurant in New York
and at Soyuzivka. Mr. Dzundza has been making a name for himself in the
acting profession since 1973, when he got his first big break in the national
touring company of the prize-winning play "That Championship Season."
He returned to Broadway as the understudy to Jack Weston in "The Ritz";
when Mr. Weston left, Mr. Dzundza was bumped up to the lead.

In 1978 he starred in Thomas Babe's compelling play "A Prayer for
My Daughter" at the New York Shakespeare Public Theater. His characterization
of a blustering, overweight police sergeant won this critique from reviewer
Mel Gussow of The New York Times: "(Mr. Dzundza's) personality is as
imposing as his physique." Referring to the four-man cast, Mr. Gussow
added: "The actors are superlative - in creating individual characters
and in concert as an ensemble."

Interviewed that year following a performance of "A Prayer,"
Mr. Dzundza told me he gravitated towards the acting profession from his
boyhood in Manhattan's East Village when he wrote skits for SUM (Ukrainian
American Youth Association) bonfires. "I used to like making people
laugh," he said.

Hollywood's doors opened for the New York actor after he appeared as
a bar owner and one of Robert DeNiro's hometown buddies in the Vietnam movie
"The Deer Hunter." Director Michael Cimino's story of young Ukrainian
American steelworkers from Clairton, Pa., who play pool, drink beer, watch
football on TV, get drunk at a wedding, hunt deer and then go off to fight
the war in 1972 won five Oscars - including the Oscar for Best Picture of
1978.

Since moving to Los Angeles in 1981, Mr. Dzundza has been working with
some of America's finest film and TV actors and directors. He has been starred
with Clint Eastwood in "White Hunter, Black Heart," Kevin Costner
in "No Way Out," Richard Gere in "No Mercy," Michael
Douglas and Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct," Gene Hackman in
"Crimson Tide" and Demi Moore in "The Butcher's Wife."
Coming up in the near future is the movie "Instinct."

Mr. Dzundza's numerous television credits include the movies "Skokie,"
"The Defection of Simas Kudirka," the two-part mini-series "Cross
of Fire," depicting Ku Klux Klan doings in the '20s, "The Lost
Honor of Kathryn Beck," "The Ryan White Story" and "The
Babymaker." As the adoptive father of Timothy Hutton in "A Long
Way Home," he drew this accolade from John J. O'Connor of The New York
Times: "superbly etched."

In the first season of NBC's "Law & Order" he co-starred
as Detective Sgt. Max Greevey. Later, in the hilarious NBC sitcom "Open
All Night," he played Gordon Feester, the proprietor of a 24-hour grocery
store. He has guest-starred on many shows, including "Starsky and Hutch,"
"Joe Forrester" and "The Waltons."

Born in a displaced persons' camp in Rosenheim, West Germany, he came
to the U.S. with his Ukrainian father and Polish mother when he was 5 years
old. The family lived in Amsterdam, N.Y., before settling in New York City,
where the young Mr. Dzundza attended St. John's University as a student
of speech and theater arts.

Now a resident of Tarzana, Calif., he devotes his time away from the
set to his wife, daughter and two sons. He enjoys playing volleyball and
walking, and is said to be a major fan of hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.

Readers' questions

Dateline often receives mail from readers with questions about upcoming
events and Ukrainian-sounding names spotted in the media. We try to answer
these with personal phone calls or notes, but here are a few of general
interest.

Question: Will the Ukrainian State Bandurist Capella be touring the United
States and Canada this fall, as reported in recent issues of Bandura magazine?
- G.W.S., Stratford, Conn.

Answer: Unfortunately, the planned 1998 tour of the Ukrainian State Bandurist
Capella of Kyiv has had to be called off. According to Nick Czorny-Dosinchuk,
editor-in-chief of Bandura magazine, the untimely passing of the Ukrainian
American gentleman who was in charge of tour arrangements has brought a
stop to all plans for this year's tour. The capella, currently celebrating
its 80th anniversary, and its director, Mykola Hvozd, hope to come to the
U.S. next year.

Question: The popular singer Milla Jovovich has a CD titled "The
Divine Comedy" which includes the Ukrainian song "Oy u Hayu, pry
Dunayu." It is very prettily sung in Ukrainian, although a couple of
words like "hrayu" and "hnizdechka" are not pronounced
perfectly. Do you know the ethnic background of Ms. Jovovich? - M.J.P.,
Hamilton, Ontario.

Answer: Milla Jovovich, who was born in Kyiv in 1975, started out as
a model in her teens but turned her talents to singing and acting in recent
years. She has appeared in several movies, including the 1997 Bruce Willis
movie "The Fifth Element" and this year's Spike Lee Movie "He
Got Game." According to the British magazine Frank, which featured
a story on her in its June issue, Ms. Jovovich was married to director Luc
Besson (of "Fifth Element") in December 1997. She is currently
working on a new CD that is due to come out next year, "Dateline"
attempted to reach Ms. Jovovich by phone and fax at her Manhattan apartment
but got no response; she may be out of town on assignment or has moved to
L.A.

Question: A review of the film "High Art," which appeared in
The New York Times on June 12, gave credit to a Lisa Cholodenko as the director.
The reviewer, Janet Maslin, called the film "an attention-getting debut
feature," and described Ms. Cholodenko as "the rare filmmaker
to acknowledge Calvin Klein ads as part of her creative inspiration."
Can you tell us whether Ms. Cholodenko is Ukrainian, as her name would indicate?
- K. and S.G., New York City.

Answer: Ms. Cholodenko, who lives in Manhattan, told "Dateline"
on the phone that her grandparents were Ukrainian. She asked to be contacted
later since she was on another call at the time. However, attempts to reach
her by phone and fax have been unsuccessful. The 90-minute film, "High
Art," starring Ally Sheedy, was written and directed by Ms. Cholodenko.
Released by October Films, it was shown last spring at the Angelika Film
Center in Greenwich Village.

Question: The book "The Millionaire Next Door," which has been
on The New York Times best-sellers list (non-fiction) for several months,
was written by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. As far as I know,
the name Danko is Ukrainian. Do you know whether Mr. Danko is Ukrainian?
- J.S., Dayton, Ohio.

Answer: Reached at his home in the upstate New York town of Niskayuna,
Mr. Danko was quite willing to discuss his ethnic background. He said he
couldn't "vouch for his Ukrainian background," even though he
is taken for Ukrainian whenever he visits Yugoslavia. Mr. Danko said his
father's family came from Poland, but his father died when he was 5 and
he was raised by his Lithuanian mother. A marketing researcher at the State
University of New York in Albany, he attends a Lithuanian church. Mr. Danko
and his colleague compiled the book "The Millionaire Next Door: The
Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy" (Longstreet Press) using two
decades' worth of surveys, interviews and data. Their conclusion: wealth
in this country is more often the result of hard work, diligent savings
and living below you means. "Millionaire," Mr. Danko's first book,
has sold about 1 million copies and is coming out in paperback this month.